Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch – USA TODAY Sports
Shaquille O’Neal And Robert Horry Reveal Toughest Team They Had To Face During Their Three-Peat
More often than not, the NBA Finals offer the toughest roadblock in the playoffs, granted, because it features the two best teams from both conferences. But this just wasn’t the case for the 3-peat Los Angeles Lakers.
While they did face the best teams in the East that included the Indiana Pacers, the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Nets, respectively in the Finals, none of these East teams gave the Lakers more trouble than the 2000 Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference.
In an interview with Howard Beck of Bleacher Report, Shaquille O’Neal and Robert Horry said that the Blazers were the best and the toughest team they’ve played against during their magical 3-peat run from the 2000 to 2002 NBA playoffs.
“It’s probably the best team I’ve ever faced playing basketball, period,” says Robert Horry, who won seven championships in his 16-year career, including three with the Lakers.
“They were the toughest team,” Shaq says, “and they were the only team that wasn’t scared of us.”
The Blazers being led by Rasheed Wallace, Scottie Pippen and Steve Smith won 59 games in the regular season and took the Lakers to seven games in the Western Conference Finals. The hard-fought series came down to the wire with the Lakers coming away with a close, 84-89 victory to advance to the NBA Finals.
O’Neal averaged 25.9 points, 12.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game on 53.7% shooting from the field during the series, while Horry averaged 7.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game on 33.3% FG.
